1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to an automatic staining apparatus used in the staining step of slide specimens such as tissue specimens, cytodiagnostic specimens, and the like. More particularly, the present invention relates to a clamp member of the automatic staining apparatus and a slide holder basket which engages with the clamp member and stores therein slide glass specimens.
2. Description of the Related Art
Slide specimens such as tissue specimens, cytodiagnostic specimens, etc. are prepared by the following steps.
(1) A step of cutting the tissue or the like into a slice, extending the slice uniformly on a slide glass to bring the slice into close contact with the glass, thus preparing primary slide specimen. PA1 (2) A step of staining the primary slide glass specimen with a specified chemical solution such as hematoxylin solution, eosin solution, Papanicolaou solution, May-Giemsa solution, or Wright-Giemsa solution in accordance with the object of the slide specimen to prepare a secondary slide specimen. PA1 (3) A sealing step of causing an ordinary sealing medium to flow on the cell, tissue, etc. of the secondary slide specimen prepared in the staining step and putting a cover glass on it to prepare a final slide glass specimen. PA1 a clamp member of the automatic staining apparatus for moving up and down and to the right and left the slide holder basket upon engagement therewith; PA1 the clamp member consisting of: PA1 (1) a claim member board; PA1 (2) finger receiving plates, each fixed to the right or left end of the clamp member board to project therefrom, and having finger receiving holes which fit to a finger tip portion; PA1 (3) two fingers, each disposed movably to the right and left inside the finger receiving plate below the clamp member board, having the finger tip portions projecting outward and forming a pair with each of the finger receiving plates; and PA1 (4) an automatic finger driving mechanism for moving the tow fingers towards and away from the finger receiving plates in the interlocking arrangement with each other; PA1 n (an integer of 2 or more) clamp members of the automatic staining apparatus for moving up and down and to the right and left the slide holder baskets upon engagement therewith; PA1 each of the clamp members consisting of: PA1 (1) a clamp member board; PA1 (2) finger receiving plates, each fixed to the right or left end of the clamp member board to project therefrom, and having finger receiving holes which fit to a finger tip portion; PA1 (3) two fingers, each disposed movably to the right and left inside the finger receiving plate below the clamp member board, having the finger tip portion projecting outward and forming a pair with each of the finger receiving plates; and PA1 (4) an automatic finger driving mechanism for moving the two fingers towards and away from the finger receiving plates in the interlocking arrangement with each other; PA1 having engagement members on the right and left upper side surfaces thereof; PA1 the engagement members, each capable of automatically engaging with, and disengaging from, the clamp members of the staining apparatus; PA1 the upper end portion of each of the engagement members being spaced apart at a given distance from the side surface of the slide holder basket, and being positioned between each of the fingers and the finger receiving plates of the clamp member when the clamp member of the staining apparatus is in a released state; PA1 the upper end portion of each of the engagement members having a through-hole having a shape and dimension such that the tip of the finger passes therethrough with a necessary clearance; PA1 the tip of each of the fingers extending from the finger thereinside through the through-hole to a fitting hole of the finger receiving plate and engaging completely with the clamp member; PA1 wherein when the clamp member and the slide holder basket start engaging with each other, the upper end portions of the two right and left engagement members, which are positioned at said loading port of said automatic staining apparatus or said relay station, are positioned between the fingers and the finger receiving plates, respectively; next, when the fingers approach to the finger receiving plates, the tip portions of the fingers pass through the through-holes disposed at the upper end portions and fit into the finger receiving holes of the finger receiving plates, thereby engaging the clamp member completely with the slide holder basket; when the slide holder basket is disengaged from the clamp member, the slide holder basket reaches the relay station or the discharge port of the automatic staining apparatus; then, the fingers move away from the finger receiving plates to the positions where the finger tip portions do not come into contact with the upper end portions, thereby completely disengaging the slide holder basket from the clamp member; the (n-1) relay stations are disposed between a large number of chemical solution containers in order to mount temporarily the slide holder basket; and the first of the clamp members is in charge of staining in the zone ranging from the loading port of the automatic staining apparatus to the first of the relay stations, the i-th of the clamp members is in charge of staining in the zone ranging from the (i-1)th of the relay stations to the i-th of the replay stations (with the proviso that 2.ltoreq.i.ltoreq.n-1) and the n-th of the clamp members is in charge of staining in the zone ranging from the (n-1)th of the replay stations to the discharge port in order to stain the n slide holder baskets substantially at the same time and independently with one another.
Table 1 below shows the typical procedures of H.E. (hematoxylin-eosin) staining of human tissue specimens.
TABLE 1 ______________________________________ Procedures of H. E. Staining of Human Tissue Specimens Step Time Chemical solution ______________________________________ 1 1 min xylene (1) 2 1 min xylene (2) 3 3 sec alcohol (1) 4 3 sec alcohol (2) 5 3 sec alcohol (3) 6 2 min 3 sec washing with running water 7 3 min distilled water (1) 8 5 min Carazzi hematoxylin 9 2 min washing with running water 10 3 min distilled water (2) 11 3 sec HCl-alcohol 12 2 min washing with running water 13 3 min distilled water (3) 14 10 sec 80% alcohol 15 10 sec 80% alcohol 16 1 min eosin 17 8 min washing with running water 18 3 min distilled water (4) 19 30 sec alcohol (4) 20 30 sec alcohol (5) 21 30 sec alcohol (6) 22 1 min xylene (3) 23 1 min xylene (4) 24 end ______________________________________
A conventional automatic staining apparatus used in the staining step described above is shown in FIG. 7.
In order to stain a large number of the primary slide glass specimens at the same time, a staining slide holder basket 2 (the conventional straining slide holder basket is shown schematically in FIG. 8) is constructed so as to mount a large number of slide glasses 1. At times, staining is carried out while two such baskets are aligned side by side. Staining is carried out while the handle 3 of the basket is hooked on a clamp member 4 of the staining apparatus. This clamp member 4 is attached to the basket 2 manually at the basket attaching position of the staining apparatus and removed manually at the basket removing position. While the handle of the basket is hooked on the clamp member of the staining apparatus, the clamp member is moved both transversely and longitudinally and positioned on a specified chemical solution container 5. Next, the clamp member 4 is lowered and the primary slide specimens 1 mounted in the basket 2 are dipped into the chemical solution for a given period. Thereafter, the clamp member is moved up. The basket is shaken up and down while the primary slide specimens are dipped into the chemical solution in order to effect uniform chemical solution treatment.
The staining has been carried out by repeating the procedures described above.
However, the conventional staining apparatus involves the following problems.